After a ten-week break, the 2025 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship fires back into life this weekend as a bumper entry prepare for the hugely anticipated Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally, and as the second half of the season begins there is a huge amount to play for in the hunt for Championship glory.
Based out of Kanturk, the Cork Motor Club event will see competitors tackle a high speed 70km route across eight stages, many of which are regarding as being amongst the best in the country, that snakes through the forest tracks and windfarm roads of the Boggeragh mountains. With over 110 entries received, the event boasts its biggest entry in over twenty years and maintains a growth in the Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship that has seen entries on all events to date this year rising by 15%.
After four rounds of the 2025 season, Jason Mitchell & Paddy McCrudden hold a commanding lead in the standings, taking maximum points in Carlow, Tipperary and Mayo to leave them with a ten-point advantage as they start this weekends Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally with number one on the door and the memory of winning this event twelve months ago.
The defending Champions Derek Mackarel & Eamonn Creedon start third in their Ford Fiesta R5 as they aim to restart their Championship push after a disappointing start to the season, but they will have plenty of competition with Vivian Hamill & Andrew Grennan in a newer Ford Fiesta Rally2, Moonraker winner and former champions Pat O’Connell & Mark Wiley, the ever quick and NI Forest Champion Gareth Mimnagh & Barry McCarney as well as current third placed Championship crew of Stephen Dickson & Ben Teggart.
In the 2WD race, the entry once more is incredible impressive with any number of crews who could come out on top.
Current Championship leaders Cian Caldwell & Paul McPhillips will be aiming to make a real mark on some of the countries quickest Gravel stages in their Peugeot 208 Rally4, but he has a huge battle with some incredibly experienced and quick competitors.
Both Shane McGirr, navigated by Denver Rafferty in their incredible Lada VFTS, and David Condell, navigated in his Ford Escort Mk2 by Eugene Donnelly, have won the 2WD class on the Jim Walsh Cork Forest Rally before and will be gunning to reclaim their title.
